


Without Hereafter

by Marz_A



Series: Pro Patria Mori [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Suicide Squad (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Gen, Rashomon Style, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 06:33:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4596507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marz_A/pseuds/Marz_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” God, Jason was a good liar. But she was Amanda Waller.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He never stood a chance.</i>
</p><p>Colonel Richard Flag Jr has gone missing. </p><p>The only people who know what happened couldn't be trusted as far as she could throw them. </p><p>Four people. Four stories. Now the question is: are any of them the truth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Hereafter

**Author's Note:**

> **Trigger Warning:** blood/gore, grief/loss, missing person, depression, suicidal tendencies, PTSD, ableist slurs, fire. More may be added as new chapters are posted. 
> 
> If you see a trigger that's not listed, comment and I'll add it.
> 
> A note on characterization: As I said in _Strange Meeting_ , some characterizations are influenced by the cartoons. In this case, Tala is based on her JLU counterpart, not the comics version.
> 
> The title is a reference to the Wilfred Owens poem "The Young Soldier."

From a single sigh, the weight of the world reached out to escape Amanda’s shoulders. And for a brief second, she thought maybe it had. Maybe someone else could give it a try. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.

That second was over.

She looked back to the security footage of her Squad. The four who came home.

They were all in their cells; Quinn singing herself a showtune, Tala meditating in silence, Todd staring off into the distance, that smug smile on his face. Even Mari had found an empty cell to lie down in, although she wasn’t a prisoner.

From her computer, three words seemed to jump off the page as Amanda updated Rick Flag’s file.

**MISSING IN ACTION**

There was no body. No confirmation on whether he was alive or dead. He just didn’t come home.

Amanda hadn’t even wanted him on the team. He was thrust upon her by the higher-ups. But he showed her something. Showed her he some backbone, showed her he could whip this team into shape and maybe she didn’t have to do all the work on that front.

And now he was gone. She had accepted long ago that that was part of the job. Lord knows Flag knew better than anybody what he was risking every time he walked out that damn door.

And yet, something was wrong about this. Amanda had that feeling. The one not just in her gut, but deep in her bones that something was wrong. There was more to this than meets the eye. Flag was- _is_ -her commander, and something happened to him. Now, her duty was to find out what.

She owed him that much.

_Knock knock._

“Come in.” Amanda turned towards the door, bracing herself for whatever the day might bring. She was The Wall. She couldn’t be seen moping in her office like a damn schoolgirl. “What is it?” she demanded of the private who looked just about ready to crap his pants.

He was new here. _Chang_. Still found her more terrifying than boot camp. She smiled at how much that pleased her.

“I have that phone number you asked for.” He hesitantly moved inside, holding out a pink Post-It note for her with the words: _Karin Grace, 555-963-8026, ext 384._

She grabbed the note from his hand. “Good. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes, sir. Ma’am.” She rolled her eyes as he belatedly questioned his pronouns. He turned to leave, hesitating ever so slightly in the doorway as if waiting for her answer.

She shouldn’t. She should let him figure it out. The place was a shark cage. The bars protect you, but if you want to survive, sometimes you have to punch em in the nose.

She looked back at the file on the desk. Flag’s blue eyes stared back at her from his photo. “Either’s fine as long as you’re consistent about it,” she called after him.

“Yes, sir,” he replied with no hesitation. Good. He might just have what it takes after all.

She looked back at the photo as he shut the door behind him. “I am _not_ getting soft,” she mumbled to the image.

She placed the sticky note on the cork board beside her.

For all Amanda didn’t know about this case which was too damn much, she knew one thing: she would not call Karin until she had something to say to her that didn’t involve the words _I don’t know._

Rick Flag was her guy. Her squad. Her field commander. And now he was missing.

Jason Todd looked up to stare directly at the camera. Amanda slammed her desk in a fit of rage. _Fuck_. Was this him? Was Bruce right? Had she really gotten so fucking arrogant that she’d blinded herself to what was right in front of her!?

The only answer she received was the dead blue eyes of her prisoner.

Was all of this her fault?

 _Enough_. There was no use letting her mind wander. Not now. Not when there was work to be done.

She picked up the top file.

**_Field Mission Report: Red Hood. Real Name Unknown._ **

_Tala and I went into Park’s gala disguised as caterers…_

\----

The sound of empty laughs and fake sincerity filled the area. Everyone wore smiles but Jason couldn’t find a single one not filled with mirth. They were the polite smiles of the elite, thanking the waiters for their drinks without once stopping to look at their faces.

Jason despised them all.

Yeah , sure, maybe a few of them were decent people, but given that they were attending a party thrown by one of Lex’s cronies, Jason wasn’t likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Jason nodded to Tala, indicating she go left and he go right and they’d meet up in the middle. The artifact, whatever it was, wouldn’t be out here in the open, but if they knew what this Park guy left open, they could find what he’d closed off.

He made his way around the room, never getting stopped once for whatever stuff was on his plate. Must be a damn good notice-me-not spell. He wondered what the hell Tala got up to when the squad noticed-her-not.

“Such beauty and grace,” a nasally voice said to his left. Above a small gathering of party-goers hung a mural. A man looked down as blood dripped all over him, sword poised above his neck. A stunning tableau in front of the Bialyan pyramids. Jason rolled his eyes. Anyone who thinks dying’s graceful clearly hasn’t done it. _Let’s all remember that time that dude got his head chopped off by hanging a painting of it in our living room—I mean, our parlor._

Bunch of pricks.

“ _Grace?_ What grace? Look at ‘im, he can’t even stand!” A blonde woman in a red dress strode up to the crowd. _Harley_. Jason narrowed his eyes. This would not be good. “Guy let his ego go to his head, and now he’s losin’ it. That’s not beautiful-- _it’s funny._ ”

Her manic laughter filled the room. “I fail to see the humor in a public execution,” the older woman sneered.

“Well aren’t you a hoot and a half.” Harley stepped over towards the woman, casually laying her arm around her as she leaned in close. “Listen, lady, I usta be like you, ya know. Always with a six-foot pole up my butt, if you can believe it.” She paused for the subdued laughter of the crowd, much to the elder woman’s disdain. “But then,” she continued, “I met someone who showed me the funny side of life.”

A sinking feeling crept up Jason’s stomach.

Harley reached for something in her purse.

He reached for his gun.

A light touch on his shoulder stopped him. “She’s alright,” Vixen assured.

“It’s not her I’m worried about.” At Vixen’s nudge, her reluctantly moved his hand away from his weapon. _If this goes to hell, that’s on you,_ his silent glare responded.

Harley met his eyes, tossing a menacing grin in his direction. She _winked_.

“Beep! Beep! Got your nose!” The crowd roared as Harley plopped a big red clown nose on the shocked woman.

He scowled as he turned away, using the distraction to slip past the crowd. He had to focus on the mission. Isaac Park was hiding some magical WMD to be sold to the highest bidder. And he sure as _hell_ wasn’t going to let Harley Quinn get her hands on it first.

He made his way from the billiard room back to the foyer, a bad feeling tugging at the back of his mind. He checked the time on the antique grandfather clock sitting in the back of the room. _11:58._

He turned around, looking for the distinctive purple hair amidst the crowd. He finally spotted her talking to someone who was grabbing the hors d’oeuvres from her tray. Jason walked over to their general area within Tala’s line of sight, pulling on his ear with his free hand to signal the sorceress it was time to go. She nodded understanding, politely dismissing herself from the woman.

 _Pop! Pop! Crack!_ Jason looked up to see the fireworks through the sunroof. He looked up long enough to see a red star illuminating the room.

Jason tapped his foot as he waited for Tala to finish up so they could get a move on. The music playing had switched to a more fervent tune, although for now the people still seemed disinclined to dance, instead preferring their personal conversations. His eyes were drawn back to that clock. A familiar feeling tugged the back of his mind.

He thought back to the blueprints.

Of course! Something was wrong here. _The dimensions were off._ He looked around again, comparing the actual sizes to the blueprints in his mind, seeing the empty space cleverly hidden by turns and paintings so large you never noticed the wall behind it.

_Did **every** billionaire hide a secret passage behind their clocks or did something about Jason just attract the crazy ones!?_

He would really like to know.

\----

Jason smiled as the Colonel came into view. “Sir.”

Rick was leaning against the wall, black suit buttoned up all proper, his hand twitching like he kept reaching for a cig that wasn’t there. He was looking over across the room, to see Vixen and Harley chatting up that Park guy.

“What’s the appetizer?” he asked cheerfully.

“Um, crab? I think?”

A roar of laughter came from the older man’s mouth. “You are a pathetic caterer, you know that?”

“Yes, sir,” he chuckled.

Rick looked back to check on Vixen and Harley, the latter of whom looked positively enamored with Park. “Find anything?”

“Only if you count secret passageways behind the walls something. I wouldn’t, I mean, what billionaire doesn’t have a hidden labyrinth of rooms in his basement? I hear they’re all the rage.”

Tala came up behind Jason and rolled her eyes. “You are very funny,” she observed.

“Yup, he’s a real John Winters,” Rick agreed sincerely. He slapped him on the back, to which Jason rolled his eyes. He wasn’t _that_ funny. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he was. “So, these passageways, how do we get into them?”

“We could blow up the wall,” Jason suggested, “Blowing up the wall always seems to work.”

Rick shook his head. “Sorry, buddy--”

\----

 

“ ** _BULLSHIT!_** ”

Amanda _slammed_ the report down in front of Red Hood, who was handcuffed to the metal table. He just stared at her, dead expression in his eyes as he _dared_ her to finish that sentence. Oh hell, no. He wasn’t the one in charge here. He wasn’t the one with his finger on the trigger.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” God, he was a damn good liar. But she was Amanda Waller.

He never stood a chance.

“Well of course not, how could you know which pile of shit I was referring to when there are so many?” She sat down upon the table, head held high as he stared up at her. His skunk stripe had fallen down in front of his eyes. He hadn’t had a chance to wash the gel out of his hair since the mission so it looked greasy as hell. There was still ash on his cheek, like a stain that wouldn’t fade. “Let me start with this: _‘Flag told me to call him Rick because we were **such good buds**._ ’”

Jason’s face contorted at the line. “Okay, maybe I overdid it a bit.”

She snorted in agreement. “You and Flag hated each other. Everybody and their mother in this office knew it. I have witnesses to how heated your arguments on this mission got. And you’re trying to tell me you two were **best buds**?”

He looked over at the wall, staring so intently she wondered if lasers were about to spring from his eyes. Wouldn’t be the first time someone spontaneously developed superpowers. Not that it mattered. These walls were impervious to laser vision. They’d checked.

“Bull. Shit,” she repeated.

Jason huffed and leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t kill him. I know my history, but I didn’t kill him.”

“Who said anything about kill? Last I heard he went missing in action. Is there something you want to tell me, boy?” The lights in the room seemed to grow brighter with every moment, illuminating every drop of sweat of his face. Did he do it? Did he kill Flag? Was Bruce right?

“ _No_ , last time I saw him, he was alive. But you’re gonna pin this on me, because I saw him last. I may have hated Flag, but I’ve only ever killed criminals.” He seemed to believe that. He really believed he was the good guy in all this.

She wondered how often Bruce thought that about her.

“You tried to kill the last Robin. More than once. Is _he_ a criminal?” The lights flickered. That needed to be checked. This is the most secure prison in the world. Every screw needs to be in place or it all goes to hell in a handbasket.

Jason didn’t respond to that at first, she could see the torment on his face. The scared, confused boy who had woken up to find he’d been replaced by the only person in the world who cared about him. He was an adult now, he had to man up and get over it, but back then…

He’d only really been a child.

Hell, as much as she told herself otherwise, to her, he still was a kid. Had so much to learn.

Maybe that was why she let herself be blinded to the truth. He was a murderer. He killed everyone around him, and for what?

He bit his lip, thinking. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know." Jason looked up at her, a storm of conflict in his eyes. Jason shook as the words foamed from his mouth, a spew of hate and rage. “ _He replaced me!_ ”

He looked away again.

“But maybe he didn’t deserve it,” he spoke so low she could barely hear him. Amanda wondered if he was even speaking to her or to himself. She wondered if he even knew he spoke aloud.

 _Or he was bullshitting her again._ She never took her eyes off of him as she examined his shaken form. His prison khakis did little to cover up the bruises and burns from the latest mission. He had bled for this country. But why? What was his goal?

She couldn’t keep doubting herself like this, but how could she not? _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…_

“Tell me what happened. **The truth this time.** ” He looked up at her, realizing just how vulnerable he’d been, he moved himself into an upright position, defensive posture back on.

Was it all an act?

Could she trust him?

**_Hell no._ **

\----

Jason grinned as the Colonel came into view. “ _Sir_.”

Flag was leaning against the wall, black suit buttoned up all proper, his hand twitching like he kept reaching for a cig that wasn’t there. He was looking over across the room, to see Vixen and Harley chatting up that Park guy. Flag barely looked in Jason’s direction as he approached.

“What’s the appetizer?” Flag asked absentmindedly, loudly enough that the guards nearby could hear.

“Don’t know,” Jason mumbled, “Some crab thing I think. And it’s not an appetizer, it’s an _hors d’oeuvre_.” Jason grinned at Flag’s annoyed look.

The man scoffed and got up off the wall. “Find anything?”

“Only if you count secret passageways behind the walls something. I wouldn’t, I mean, what billionaire doesn’t have a hidden labyrinth of rooms in his basement? I hear they’re all the rage.”

Tala came up behind Jason and rolled her eyes. “You are very funny,” she observed.

Jason stared at her in bewilderment, wondering if she was serious or not. Her dry Russian accent was not doing him any favors. He figured it was fifty-fifty. He grinned anyway, figuring it could be interpreted as genuine or ironic depending on her meaning.

“Yeah, he’s a real John Winters.” Flag was glaring at him again. “So, these passageways, how do we get into them?”

“We could blow up the wall. Blowing up the wall always seems to work.”

The Colonel was not amused. “Next.”

“Ve could smash wall,” Tala suggested. Jason slapped her on the back for supporting him. She raised her eyebrows at the gesture, as if to say, _Do not touch me, peasant_. Yeah, he was pretty sure the peasant part was included in there. This did not seem to please Flag any more than Jason’s suggestion.

“Can you just phase us through the wall or something? Teleport us behind it?” Flag suggested, checking back to where Vixen and Harley were. Harley had her arms thrown around Park, a wide smile on her face. Jason clenched his jaw at the show. They completely believed her facade.

He wasn’t fooled in the slightest.

She saw him from across the room, and _winked_. That bitch. Jason forced himself to focus on the matter at hand and not on wrapping her in a straight jacket two sizes too tight.

She was his teammate now, after all.

“Teleport behind wall I could do, but we’d need to know exactly where passageway is, and find cover. Portals in time and space tend to attract… _attention_.”

Flag nodded. “Let’s go, we’re drawing too many prying eyes this way anyway.” Flag turned around to gaze at a woman with dark brown hair and arms covered in scars. 

The woman met his gaze, and smiled. 

She walked over to where Vixen was standing, placing a gentle touch on the woman’s shoulder to get her attention. The woman whispered something to Vixen that Jason couldn’t hear, body angled so that her lips were concealed.

Whoever she was, Jason was damn sure she was a professional.

They had competition.

—

The room they found themselves in was just off the beaten-path of the approved pathways through the manor. They could easily make up some excuse for how they gotten turned around this close to the open-access hallways. There was a full-length mirror on the east side of the room, black frame standing out against the robin-egg-blue walls.

Jason stopped in front of it to adjust his bowtie. “Classy, aren’t I?” He challenged the Colonel, who was keeping an eye on the hallway for intruders.

“You’re the Help. Now _help_ her get that damn portal open.” Flag was absolutely seething loathing in his direction.

“The Help can’t be classy?” Jason shook his head, deliberately walking towards Flag and away from the sorceress who was too busy mumbling something in Russian to pay attention to their conversation. “I beg to differ.”

“Get back to your post, _inmate_.” Flag had moved his body towards Jason, ignoring the hall outside to focus on their pissing contest. Jason laughed as he saw how much Flag was practically foaming at the mouth.

“What, exactly, am I supposed to help her with? I shoot things and blow them up. I don’t do _magic_.” He kept an ear open for the guards, lowering his voice in case they attracted undue attention. Jason knew how reckless he was being. He really  
wasn’t that terrible at his job, but…

In response, Flag yanked Jason across the room, shoving him against the wall with as the force of a 250-pound bodybuilder. “You want to stay here, you better damn well learn how to start following orders and keep that trapper of yours _shut_.”

An explosion of blue light and sparkled swirled about the room. “If you boys are done pissing, portal is ready.” Tala leaned on one leg, hip jutting out, with a cocky smile on her face. She gestured to the swirling light, as if it wasn’t already obvious.

Flag stared at him, blue eyes examining him carefully. Jason jutted out his chin in challenge. This time, he wasn’t in a cell. Flag looked at him for one more moment, then backed off, letting Jason ease off the wall. “You first, inmate.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. Jason wanted nothing more than to smack the wide grin off that cocky face of his.

Flag started laughing at him.

The sorceress tapped her foot. “Portal will not wait all day.”

Jason reluctantly stepped through the light, the Colonel’s laughter barreling after him.

Jason blinked as he readjusted to the world, breathing the motion sickness from him. _Fuck teleporters_.

Dim lights began illuminating a thin passageway in front of him.

 _Fuck_. Jason quickly pulled out a handheld EMP device, that should knock out all electronics within ten feet of him. Hopefully that will be enough.

The lights flicked off, stopping as if in the middle of a sentence--

He had to angle himself a bit so his shoulders weren’t dragging against the wall. What could this place have been used for? It had to have been here since the mansion was built, what, two hundred years ago?

Behind him, Jason could hear the grunting of Tala and Flag, taking up the rear. Jason smirked, knowing Flag wouldn’t trust either of them enough to let them walk behind him.

“The lights turned on a few seconds after I arrived,” Jason informed them. “They must be motion activated, or heat-sensing or something. Either way, _they know we’re here_.”

“They’re not on now,” Flag astutely observed.

Jason rolled his eyes, grateful that the Colonel couldn’t see his condescension in the darkness. “I used an EMP. Hopefully, they’ll assume it was a rat and ignore it.”

“How far’s the range on that thing?”

“Ten feet.” Jason grimaced, “And it needs thirty minutes in between uses, so not going to help us get through this passage.”

A ball of yellow light appeared in front of Tala, tinting the sorceress’ purple hair with an orange glow. The effect was unsettling, as her bright purple eyes stood out against the light, mysteriously not changing color from the light.

The hairs on Jason’s arms stood up.

“Can you do anything about the motion sensors?” Flag asked her.

“My resources are not unlimited, Colonel. I still need magic for artifact.”

“She’s right,” Jason said. “I don’t want to be caught with my pants down dealing with a magic thing we still don’t know what it does.”

Flag grunted, the shadows resting over most of his face. “Hood. Go as far ahead as you can, and see if you can disable the sensors manually.”

Jason leaned down as low as he could go, and slowly approached the line where the EMP should end. The floor was grimy and dusty, but a few bootprints could be seen in the dim light. How often does this place get used? How many people know it exists? Jason hated that he didn’t know the answers. This mission was too risky. They knew **_nothing_**. They were basing this all on a chance. Vague intel that suggested this guy was selling something dangerous.

Well, he supposed there was a reason they called it the Suicide Squad.

Jason reached into his jacket pocket where he concealed a small spray device. The spray illuminated a series of thin, red lights spreading across the narrow passageway. This would be fun.

Most of them were at his chest height, although angled down for maximum range. A few went straight across the floor.

“Hey, Tala, you got a mirror on you?” Jason asked from his position on the floor.

Jason smiled as she handed him a round compact. He reached forward, moving so slowly he wondered if the others could see he was moving at all.

Closer, by just a hair.

Only a few more millimeters.

Jason honestly didn’t even know the American standard for distances this small.  
He wondered if there even was any.

Jason’s breath hitched ever so slightly as the light finally hit the center of the mirror.

“Get a move on, Hood.,” the Colonel barked.

“ _Tsk, tsk, tsk,_ Someone never paid much attention to his fables as a kid.” As he spoke, Jason crawled on the other side of the sensor, remaining just low enough to dodge the other sensors.

“And the tortoise got eaten by a bear as soon as he crossed the finish line. _Let’s move._ ”

Jason made his way across the hall in much the same way while Tala tapped her foot impatiently.

A sliver of light hit the wall in front of Jason. He chuckled. Slowly getting up, he found a control panel with a keypad. Hacking it was a simple matter for someone with access to a device invented by _Oracle_.

The dim lights flashed on, revealing a tunnel headed down. Three guesses that led to the interesting part of the mansion.

“Well? Don’t just stand there. We’ve got a secret underground passageway to explore.”

The Colonel scoffed. “Don’t get cocky, Hood.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

The passageway opened up to a large, safe door that looked out of place in the middle of a cavern. The walls were rock, floor still retaining a few bootprints from the last time this place had been visited. A few feet in front of him, Jason watched a spider spin a web in an ornate pattern that looked oddly familiar.

The sorceress stepped through the room, the light tap of her shoes echoing throughout the cavern.

Her mumbled Latin echoed throughout the room.

The walls began to _rumble_ as she approached the door.

“Uh, Tala? Maybe you should step back a second,” he suggested, reaching for his gun.

Purple light seeped through the door’s edges.

“ _Tala!!!_ ” Flag yelled as the cavern **_shoOoOooooOOKKkkkk_** with the force of a thousand riders trampling above. “Whatever you’re doing, _stop right—_ ”

She vanished, leaving only a swirling blue portal in her wake.

“ _\--now!_ ”

The portal _blinked_ out of existence.

“Well, _fuck_.”

\----

**_Ba-BoOoOoM!!!_ **

Jason clutched the wall as the place reeled from the explosion, whatever it was.

_Wooo-weeee—woooooooo-weeee_

“Having fun yet, Colonel?” Jason called over the blaring alarm. The other man was practically growling curses as he pulled out his gun. Jason just laughed. Now _this_ was a good time.

The clatter of footsteps approached. A lot of them.

“ _This was **you**!_ Wasn’t it!?” Flag moved to shove Jason into the wall again, but Jason was prepared this time. He swept his leg across the floor, using Flag’s own weight against him as the man went barreling to the ground.

**_BLAM!_ **

The world stopped.

For just a moment, the world stopped.

Jason looked down. Red blood was pooling out of his left shoulder, utterly ruining the white catering shirt.“ _You shot me!_ ” He used his right hand to grip the wound, putting as much pressure as he could. “ _You fucking shot me!_ ”

“You’re the one who tripped a guy _carrying a loaded Glock!_ ” The vein in Flag’s forehead looked about ready to pop. Dirt and sweat marred his face.

The footsteps were almost there.

They didn’t have time for this shit.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, _Tala_ was the one who left us here,” he said as he was searching the room for cover. The cavern had a few rocks, but nothing large enough to conceal a fully grown man.

They were sitting ducks.

But they weren’t dead yet.

Jason let go of his wound just long enough to get his apron off and wrap it around the shoulder as a makeshift bandage. The pain was clouding his mind, but he let it go. He had to.

He didn’t want to die.

He took up a position to the immediate left of the entrance. Only one way in. Passageway that narrow, only one person was coming through at a time.

The Colonel moved to the other side of it, a dead stare aimed at Jason. “You’re a traitor. You _betrayed your team_.” He lifted the gun towards Jason’s chest.

He could feel his heart pounding, still reeling from the earlier wound.

“I could kill you right here, and no one would ever know.” The gun stayed steady.

In his peripheral vision, a gun moved through the entrance. _Blam!_

“Aaargh!” an unfamiliar voice called out. Jason blinked as the Colonel tossing a guard away from the entrance, snapping the guy’s neck before Jason could even process the guy’s mangled hands.

Jason yanked the next guard that entered, slamming him into the wall. Jason held the dude’s outstretched arm with his right hand, kicking his chest even further into the hard rock. He dimly registered the crack of the guy’s breaking ribs as he took the gun from him.

 _Blam! Blam!_ Two into the chest of the next guy. Flag took out the fourth and fifth.

The room rumbled again, a small reminder of the nebulous ground this place was now on. It could come crashing down at any moment.

Jason looked at Flag. The only sound in the air was their heavy breathing. Their eyes met.

They raised their guns.

“So what’s it gonna be, Flag?” Jason taunted, “We walking out of here today?”

Flag stared at him, sweat dripping down his forehead. “Answer me one question.”

Jason smirked, his shoulder really starting to bother him as the adrenaline wore off.

“What’d Batman ever see in a punk like you?”

If he was being really honest with himself, yeah, Jason considered putting two in his head right then and there. Fucking yes-man bastard. He’d be doing the world a favor, really.

When Jason looked in Flag’s eyes, all he saw was hatred and disgust. _Traitor_ , they said.

“Fuck you.” Jason lowered the gun and turned to leave.

He paused in the doorway, waiting for the shots that never came.

\----

The heat was the first thing Jason noticed. He was already hot from the midnight sweat of Corto Maltese’s summer, but this was more. Sweat dripped down his face. Or was it blood? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. There was no light in the hallway. He chose the directions that went back the way they came. This place was a goddamn labyrinth. Best not to get lost.

The walls _crackled_. He coughed as smoke began to fill the room. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ Should he bust the wall from here, get into a more open area where he was less likely to suffocate? Or would that just trap him behind the fire? If it spread into the passageway, there was no place for him to go.

A tug on his arm reminded Jason that he wasn’t alone. _They_ had to get out of there. Not just him. Jason dropped to the floor and began to crawl as fast he could.

“You know,” Flag grunted from behind Jason, “I’m pretty sure when Aesop wrote that story, _he didn’t mean for the racetrack to be on fire._ The tortoise is roast.”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” he hissed. “Do you know how hard it is to crawl with a bullet wound in your shoulder? Thanks for that by the way.”

“ ** _Yes_**. I do.” Jason clenched his teeth together as he pushed forward. “Didn’t Batman train you work through pain?” the Colonel continued, “My grandmother has a higher pain tolerance than this.”

“Fuck,” his breath hitched as he put weight on his bad arm, “You.”

Jason could practically hear the other man grinning behind him. “Hey, wait,” Flag said.

“What?” Jason heard the click of a gun and for a second thought the fucker was really gonna do it.

 _Blam! Blam! Blam!_ Light flashed in his vision. Patches of light poured through the newly-formed holes in the wall. Jason’s ears began ringing so loud he had to read Flag’s lips to understand what he said. “…walnut(?)…ot.” What the fuck? What’s walnut ot? _Oh_.

 _Wall’s not hot._ So maybe Jason’s lipreading skills could use some work. It was dark, and he had more important things to focus on.

Flag had his shirt pulled over his nose and mouth as he stood up to kick a hole big enough for them to crawl through in the weakened wall. Jason didn’t wait for his cue to crawl through. While Flag maneuvered through the space, Jason rushed to the door to check its temperature with the back of his hand. Cool.

He nodded at Flag as he pulled it open. He recognized this hallway. It was within view of the billiard room he’d been scoping out earlier. The _crackle_ of the fire wasn’t too far away. Screams echoed throughout the large building, as people  
rushed to escape.

“ _That!_ ” A shrill voice yelled over the commotion. “ _Wasn’t!_ ” A man cried out in response. “ _Very!_ ” Another cry as Jason headed towards the billiard room, where the voices were coming from. “ ** _Nice!_** ”

Jason crashed into the room to see Harley Quinn standing over a bruised and battered Isaac Park, pool cue held over her head with both hands. A bubble of laughter filled the room as she saw him and Flag.

“Hey, boys. I dunno ‘bout you, but I’m ready to blow this joint.” A giggle burst from her. “But I guess someone beat me to it. Was that you?”

Jason grunted a non-answer. "Let's go," he growled.

"Bye, Mistah Park! Nice chatting with ya!" she called as Jason dragged her out of the room. _Crash!_

Jason covered his eyes as ash flew at him. A burning column lay collapsed in front of him.

He blinked sweat out of his eye as the flame spread throughout the hallway. Jason jumped as he heard the cracks of the walls collapsing around him. His eyes watered through the smoke as his lungs struggled for breath. Flag and Harley's coughs could barely be heard next to the crackling of the fire.

Jason closed his eyes as he brought up the blueprints in his mind. There had to be a way out of this.

_Window: Two doors down._

_This way,_ he signaled. They followed him down the hall, past a flaming tapestry to a guest bedroom that hadn’t yet been set ablaze. The power had gone out, and without the flames, the only light was that of the moon. A fireplace sat across from the king-sized bed, an empty shell yearning for the blaze behind them.

On the wall was another painting; another martyr immortalized in oil.

Harley picked up a fire poker and _smashed_ the window.

Blue light flashed in his vision.

“Mm....Got it.” Tala smiled, face covered in blood and ash as she presented them a metal orb, ancient and covered in lines and dots he didn’t understand.

She collapsed.

“ ** _Tala!_** ” Jason didn’t know whether he or Flag called out. Maybe it was both of them.

“She’s breathing,” Flag said, suddenly cradling the sorceress.

Jason picked up the ball, which was cool to the touch.

He looked to the unconscious sorceress, hearing the crackle of the fire approaching. His shoulder burned, as he breathed the fresh air to stop the room from spinning. 

He thought, _What’s the point?_

All of this pain and destruction, for what? A metal ball? Was it worth it?

Was it ever?

The woman in the painting seemed to stare at him, tears running down her face as she prepared to be hanged.

“Come on, boys, we don’t have all day ya know!”

He looked around, to see Harley had already jumped out the window, and was waiting impatiently on the grassy knoll. When had she jumped? How could he miss that? He shoved the ball into his pocket, determined not to touch it any more. He couldn’t risk being distracted again.

“She’s right,” he said, coming out of his stupor, “We need to go." 

Flag nodded, picking up Tala--

 _Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!_ A semi-automatic fired not a hundred feet away from them.

“ _Vixen_ ,” Flag cursed.

“We don’t know it’s her,” Jason protested, reaching for the window.

“ ** _PUTA!_** ”*

“Okay, it’s her,” he agreed reluctantly. Flag looked back at the door, where the gunshots were coming from. “Take Tala and get out of here. I’m going back for Mari.”

Jason couldn’t believe it. “This place is _on fire_ , you’ll die before you even find her!”

He could feel the painting watching him, judging him. 

That cocky smirk ran across his face. “Finding her’s easy. Just follow the gunfire.”

 Jason swore. “She’s a goddamn Justice Leaguer, she can take care of herself! _Let’s go!_ ”

_I don’t want to die here._

Flag stared at him, his eyes firm. “ **No**.”

_Not again. Not for this._

He handed Tala to Jason, slinging her over Jason’s good shoulder, fireman style. “No,” he repeated. “I’m not leaving behind one of my own. Not again.”

_Blam, blam, blam!_

He watched as the Colonel made for the door, gun ready, pulling his shirt over his face before busting into the blaze. “ _Go!_ ”

He heaved as his lungs protested the weight of the sorceress. His vision clouded with blood loss. He could feel the artifact in his pocket. Saving it, whatever _it_ was, was more important than stopping a trigger-happy Colonel from killing himself.

He hoped.

“ _Yes, sir._ ”

\----

**Author's Note:**

> * _Bitch,_ in Spanish.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun writing it. 
> 
> Feedback is, as always, appreciated. Even if it's negative, as long as it's constructive. :)


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